Moving In With R5
by NeonShoeStrings
Summary: Laura and Ross have never been the best of friends, for unknown reasons, he's always hated her. Her summer's about to become a little more interesting when she has to stay with him and his family for two months.
1. Chapter 1

**Moving In With R5**

~Chapter One~

"Laura!"

I groan in response even though my mom can't possible hear me from downstairs. The sunshine pouring in from the window lands on my face as I roll over and I place a hand over my eyes while letting another groan escape me.

I throw the covers off of me and get up, stretching out my limbs and tired muscles.

I walk into the bathroom my sister and I share and get ready for my day, changing into a black floral tank top, denim skinny jeans, and brown wedges. I curl my hair, letting the ombré'd curls cascade down my shoulders and keep my make-up simple.

My mom is downstairs, talking to someone on her Bluetooth. She hands me a glass of orange juice and a plate of eggs, which I accept gladly.

I glance around the kitchen for my dad, but don't see him anywhere. He must've been called to work early this morning.

My sister, who was a pretty well known actress, had left for two months for France to shoot for a movie and my dad was at work a lot so it was just me and mom at home lately.

"Okay, buh-bye," my mom says to the person on the other line before hanging up and smiling guiltly at me.

"So, Laura, honey," she starts. I eat the eggs off my fork as she proceeds to tell me. "I have some news to inform you of, my work has requested that I travel around the country for some inspiration on my next book, which means you'll have to stay here in L.A. with some family friends."

I sigh. I really do love my mom and I'm happy she's working her dream job. She's wanted to be a writer practically her whole life and now she's a very famous author. It's just that her publishing company is constantly wanting her to go to far away destinations as settings for her books. I went once, but everyone, aside from my mom, was rude to me and always made me feel like I was in the way. I didn't go again after that.

"Okay, so what? Is Aunt Maggie flying out again to stay with me?"

"No," she laughs and smiles abit.

I take a sip of my juice, slightly confused as to why she's acting so weird.

"You'll be staying with the Lynches."

"Wha-" I can't even get the word out before I choke on the juice I had been in the process of drinking.

"I didn't think you'd be too happy about it," my mom says and hands me a napkin to wipe away the juice dripping down my chin.

Stormie Lynch was my mom's college roommate years ago and her oldest friend. My mom moved away from Colorado to Calofornia after she graduated college and left Stormie behind.

Ten years ago, Stormie, her husband Mark, her children, Riker, Rydel, Rocky, Ross, Ryland, and their family-friend, Ellington Ratliff moved to L.A. and became reacquainted with my mom. Ever since then, they've been the best of friends.

I got along with all the kids, except Ross.

Ross was always mean to me and made fun of me for no reason. When we were eleven he broke my glasses while we were playing football.

On purpose.

I absolutely hated him and he always hated me, even though I never gave him any reason to.

"Isn't there anyone else I can stay with?" I practically whine.

My mom shakes her head and places her hand on my shoulder. "I'm sorry, but Stormie lives in the city and I trust her. I know you don't like her kids, but,"

"I like her kids. All of them, except Ross," I interject with a none-too-subtle eyeroll.

"It's only gonna be a little while. Nessa will be back in two months and you'll be able to come back home with her."

I fiddle with my fork, pushing the left-over eggs around on my plate. Suddenly I'm not very hungry.

"Honey, it's not gonna be that long," she assures me, "if you really don't want to stay with them, I can always just... not go, or take you with me."

I swallow hard when she suggests not going. I know how much she loves traveling. She tells me all the time how it doesn't feel like work, even though it technically is.

"No, for you, I'll put up with that pig. It's only two months right?"

She smiles brightly and hugs me. "Thank you, so much darling," she mumbles into my hair.

I smile, but it falters as I think about what these next two months are gonna be like.

…

Their house is really big.

That's practically all I can think as mom drops me off in front of her house.

"Well, this is it," I say nervously and mom nods.

"Yep, it is," she turns her attention to me and smiles reassuringly.

"I'll see you in five months," she tells me and I glance to the door, then back at her.

"Aren't you gonna come inside and say hi to Stormie?" I ask hopefully.

She shakes her head. "I wish I could, but I really have to get to my flight."

I nod and reluctantly get out of the car with my luggage, walking to the house I haven't been inside in three years.

I knock on the door and shortly after, the friendly face of Stormie Lynch greets me.

"Oh, sweetheart, you look so beautiful," she gushes and then envelopes me in a big hug.

"Thanks," I mumble shyly and hug her back lightly.

"Who's at the door?" A masculine voice comes from the kitchen.

A tall, blonde, that I rember to be Riker Lynch, steps into the living room and walks over to the door.

"Oh my gosh! Laura! Is that you?"He asks with laughter in his voice.

"Yeah," I look down at my shoes.

"You look great," he beams.

Two more boys enter the room. A brunette and a shorter one.

"Why hello, beautiful," the brunette (who I'm pretty sure is Rocky) says to me and leans against the doorway.

The shorter boy (who must be Ryland) pushes past his mom and brother and gives me a flirty smile. "Hi, I'm Ryland."

"Dude!" Rocky slaps his arm.

"What?!"

"I saw her first."

Riker rolls his eyes at the two. "Guys, it's Laura."

They both put an end to their argument. "No way! Little Laura Marano from down the street?"

"Yes, Rocky, it's me," I answer.

"She's gonna be staying with us for a bit while her family's away," Stormie explains to them and then adds as an afterthought, "while she's here, you all are to treat her like a sister. Rock, Ry, that means no flirting!"

"I only flirted with her because I didn't know it was Laura. I mean, this is a girl I saw throw up in our pool," Rocky replies, bringing back that horrific memory.

Suddenly two more bodies come down the stairs. It's Rydel and Ratliff.

"Oh em gee!" Rydel squeals and races over to tackle me in a hug. "Laur! It's you!"

She finally releases her grip on me. "Hi Delly!"

Out of all the Lynch kids, she was my favorite.

"Like for reals girlfriend it's totes you!" Ratliff says in a girly voice, mocking Rydel.

We both laugh and she lightly slaps his arm.

"I see you haven't changed at all. Nice to see you, Ratliff."

He places his arm around my shoulder and brings me into him as a sort of "side-hug".

"Mom!" Another voice calls from the kitchen as the back door opens and then slams shut.

"We're in here, Ross!" She yells back.

My eyes widen and instantly I stiffen like a board.

He strides confidently into the room. Platinum blonde locks, charming hazel eyes, and tall for his age. He's wearing a black, tight fitting tank top, giving a look at his muscular build.

I bite my lip unconsciously at the sight of him. Sure, he's my childhood enemy, but that doesn't mean I can't admit he's good-looking. Besides, maybe he's changed.

"Laura?" He asks in complete surprise when he sees me.

I smile friendly and walk over to him. "Hi, Ross," I say and hug him.

I take in his scent. Wow, he even smells good.

I'm so distracted by this, I don't even notice he's not hugging back.

"What are you doing?" He asks incredulously.

I instantly jump away from him.

"I...uh... I," my cheeks burn red in embarassment.

He smirks and shakes his head before walking by me, knocking into my shoulder in the process. I hear him mumble, "too easy."

I gape, but that instantly turns into a frown.

If one things for sure, Ross is still a jerk.

…

Dinner was great, I'd forgotten what an amazing cook Stormie was.

After dinner, Mark asks who's turn it was to do the dishes.

I volunteer willingly since I was more than capable of doing dishes for a meal I'd eaten as well.

"Oh, no, Laura, you don't have to do that," Stormie says and reaches her hand out to take my plate.

"I wouldn't mind, really," I insist.

"Well, if you want to," she seems a little guilty about letting the house guest do the dishes, "but at least let Ross help you. It is his night to do them."

We both immediately speak at once.

"No way, I am not doing dishes with her!"

"That's okay, I can do them myself."

"No," she says firmly and gives her son a stern look, "Ross is gonna help you and he's gonna be happy about doing it."

We both glance at each other in utter disgust.

"I don't see why I should have to help if Laura already said she would do them."

"Because I said so," was her only reply before she and Mark went upstairs.

The rest of the kids go up there too, obviously happy they didn't get stuck doing the dishes.

"Try not to do anything PG-13 you two," Aaron says with a wink as she strides up the staircase.

"Trust me," I mumble, "if anythings gonna be PG-13, it's gonna be for violence."

I turn my attention to Ross just in time to see him roll his eyes.

"Lets get this over with," he practically growls, "the sooner we get this done, the sooner we can go upstairs and not be near each other."

"Oh, but you're just so pleasant to be around," I say, my tone dripping in sarcasm as I plug the drain, turn on the water, and squirt the dish soap in.

Ross is just standing there leaning against the countertop.

"Aren't you gonna help?"

"You wash, I rinse," he answers with a shrug of his shoulders like I should have known that.

Which, I kinda should have. It's no surprise he'd pick the easier job.

We stand in a complete silence for the next ten minutes. It's not an awkward silence either. In fact, I think us talking would be awkward.

It's going just fine until Ross picks up a glass with a loose grip and drops it right on my foot.

"Dammit!" I hiss and mentally scold myself for using harsh language. But I can't help it, that really hurt.

Ross just looks down at my foot. "I-I think you're bleeding."

"Yeah, I can see that."

Really it's not that bad, one of the broken pieces just scratched my skin deeply and it started to bleed.

"Uh, um...let me... let me get a band-aid," and as soon as he says those words, he's racing toward the bathroom.

Confused, I start to pick up the broken pieces of glass and place them in the trash not knowing what else to do with them.

Ross comes back with a band-aid and tries to put it on me, but I grab it out of his hand.

"Thanks, but I really don't need your help with this," I tell him in not quite the most thankful tone.

He just looks at me as I fumble to open up the wrapper.

Nice move Laura, say you don't need help and then look like an idiot, struggling to get the stupid thing open.

"I'm sorry," he says so quietly I'm not sure if he actually said it or I'm just hearing things.

"What?" I ask.

So he repeats himself. "I said I was sorry."

"Yeah, well, apology not accepted," I answer harshly. Maybe it was a bit rude, but doesn't he deserve it for how awful he'd always treated me?

"Gosh, what's your problem? I was just trying to be nice!"

I snort. "Trying to be nice? You've got a lot of catching up to do. Like, seventeen-years worth."

"Someone's being an overdramatic bitch," he says coldly.

"Overdramatic?!" I try hard not to scream remembering his family members are upstairs trying to sleep, but I really just wanna yell at him right now. "You're the one whose been a jerk to me ever since we were ten-years old! You're still a jerk now! You just dropped a glass on my foot!"

"Hey, that was an accident! And I apologized, but you didn't accept. Whose being the jerk now?"

My icy cold stare soften as I realize he was right. I was trying to do to him what he did to me when we were kids, but how did that make me any better than him? It didn't.

I decide I was gonna just apologize for being rude and forget this ever happened, but I couldn't before Ross pushes past me angrily and runs upstairs.

I sigh, feeling extremely bad about what I did. I was also kind of confused. Ross had tried to be nice to me, after all these years of making fun of me and hurting me. Even after what happened this morning.

Maybe he really had changed.

I honestly didn't know what to think, so I just went back to doing the dishes. Now, by myself.

Only one thought ran through my mind.

These were gonna be the longest two months of my life.

**A/N**

**I know, I know! I really should be writing my other story, but I couldn't help it! This one just kinda jumped out at me and it was like all I could think about so I caved and started writing it and I have to say I'm actually not disgusted with how this turned out. **

**And I swear, this is the last story I'm gonna start before I finish the other one. I hope to update that one soon I've just been kinda uninspired lately. **

**I know this plot is a little overused (I've read several stories like this, R5 and regular, where a girl moves in with a big family and she and the boy she ends up falling in love with are enemies at the begging but eventually become friends) but I still really like this idea and I'm gonna make this one different from the others ones you might have read.**

**And also, just in case you're wondering, yes this is a Raura story (as in Ross and Laura.) So, if you don't ship Raura, then I guess this stories not for you.**

**Alright, review if you want to. I would really appreciate if you did. Constructive criticism is welcome, but flames are not. Seriously guys there's no need to be mean on purpose. **

**I did my best to proof-read and not be lazy, but no ones perfect and sometimes tiny mistakes escape us. Sorry if there are mistakes, they should be very minimal though.**

**Sorry for the long authors note.**

**Kthanxbai!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Moving In With R5**

~Chapter Two~

Laura wakes up in a sour mood. Although she's almost always a very positive person, the first to give everyone she encounters a sweet smile, but in all honesty, she's just not a morning person.

Laura yawns as she descends the stairs with messy bed-head, wearing nothing but an old Beatles tee-shirt and pink piggy pajama shorts.

She comes downstairs to find all the Lynches dressed and ready to take on the day.

"Someone's not an early riser," Stormie jokes in a cheery voice and ruffles Laura's hair. "Don't worry, Laura, you'll get the hang of how things are run around here soon enough."

Somehow, Laura seriously doubts that.

"I don't usually get up so late," she replies noticing the clock on the stove reads '11:43', "I didn't get very much sleep last night."

Stormie simply nods and heads outside when Mark calls for her help with something.

Ryland waits until his mom is out of the house before he drapes an arm around Laura shoulder. "You know, if you were having trouble sleeping, you could have come over to my bed." He winks cheekily at his suggestive comment.

"I thought your mom said no flirting with me. Remember? You're to treat me like a sister," she says, her tone is dripping with annoyance.

Suddenly, Ross comes down the stairs and the room fills with an awkward tension as he notices Laura.

Everyone kind of freezes in place and watches what happens between the two.

Last night is still fresh in both of their minds. A look of hurt flashes through Ross's eyes before he finally speaks up, his gaze shifting from Laura to Rocky and Riker and he's the first one to move in the past thirty seconds.

"Are we ready to go yet?" Ross jumps over the couch, landing a seat right next to Ratliff.

"Not yet," Riker answers. He's still confused by what just happened.

"I swear, mom and dad are slow about everything," Ross replies and his siblings nod their heads in agreement.

"Where are we going?" Laura asks once she gets over their little "moment". She walks away from her original spot in the kitchen, causing Ryland to stumble and fall. She had forgotten he had his arm around her, using her as a support.

"The beach," Ross says. He doesn't even look up from his phone screen.

Laura inwardly groans. She hates the beach. She always has since she was little which was odd considering she'd grown up in place that consisted of so many.

In all honesty, she wasn't much for the outdoors. She'd gone camping once with her family and the Lynches and considered it the worst experience of her life. Nature just wasn't her thing.

"You might want to get dressed before we leave, by the way," Rocky informs her, seeing as how she's still dressed in sleep wear.

She shakes her head and crosses her arms. "It's okay. I'm not going."

"What do you mean you're not going?" Stormie asks when she enters the house, only hearing a fragment of the conversation.

Laura turns her attention to the older women. "I just mean that I'm not much of a beach person, besides I'm not ready to go anywhere and I haven't even had breakfast."

"We'll wait on you," Stormie says. Laura hears a groan escape Ross's lips. He's clearly not happy with the thought of waiting around any longer. Especially not for Laura.

"It's okay. Really it is."

"Laura," Stormie's tone turns serious, "we're a family, we do things together, and for the time being you're part of our family."

Laura squirms under Stormie's gaze, she's a not a huge fan of being looked at intently likes she's being right now.

"I don't even have a bathing suit," Laura mumbles her pathetic excuse.

"You can borrow one of Rydel's," Mark offers, gesturing to his daughter.

"Yeah, if she has something that's not Hello Kitty," Rocky teases.

Rydel slaps him hard in the chest for that remark. She grabs Laura's arm gently and pulls her upstairs to her room.

…

"Rydel," Laura whines as she glances down at herself in Rydel's bikini, "I look ridiculous."

"You look hot," she responds. Rydel throws a yellow cover-up in her direction that Laura hastily covers herself with, feeling very self conscious.

"Come on, lets go," Rydel says over her shoulder, but Laura doesn't move. She bites her lip and looks herself over once more in the mirror.

Her brunette hair is done up in a tight bun, leaving just a few strands to frame her face. Her pale skin already feeling uncomfortable being so exposed.

"Come on," she urges once more.

They walk downstairs finding two more people have shown up while they had been upstairs.

A tall red-head whose talking to Riker gives Laura a confused look. "Whose the girl?"

"That's Laura," Riker answers, "she's staying with our family for a couple months."

"Um... hi," Laura says quite awkwardly.

Great, more people she had to feel uncomfortable.

"Laura, this is Calum and his step-sister Lauren," Riker gestures to the red-head and then jabs his thumb in the direction of a blond girl behind him.

The girl is shorter than Calum and has medium-length blonde hair that she's wearing in pigtails. She's got on light pink swim shorts and a very revealing tank top. Her make-up in done quite over-dramatically. She seems to be throwing herself at Ross, but he looks bored and a bit uncomfortable with her close proximity.

"They're gonna be going to the beach with us," Rydel speaks up next to Laura. The distaste is evident in her voice.

Lauren studies Laura for a while with a dirty look on her face. She finally looks her in the eyes and glares at her.

Laura only rolls her eyes and finishes the rest of the stairs with Rydel, hoping this day blows over soon.

Calum, the Lynches, and Lauren exit the house as well. Lauren's still glaring daggers at Laura.

What Laura doesn't know is a certain Lynch boy happens to be roaming his eyes over the brunette too.

A certain Lynch boy by the name of Ross Shor.

…

The beach is crowded with people, as it usually seems to be.

Everyone strips off their cover-ups, but Laura tries to stay as modest as possible. Lauren on the other hand flew out of the car with barely any clothes on at all. Her tight-fitting, skimpy two piece seems to attract attention from all the beach goers, especially those of the male gender. They undress her with their eyes, even though there's not much left to undress, and she seems to get a boost of confidence out of that.

Until she goes over to Ross and he doesn't even give her the time of day. This makes her pout uncontrollably.

Laura spends most of her time huddled under the umbrella with her book. She's not sure how her pale skin will react with the rays of the sun that they are so unfamiliar with, but she doesn't plan on finding out. Instead, she sits back, slaps on at least twelve pounds of sunscreen, and reads the brilliant words of her Elizabeth Chandler novel.

"Guys, lets play volleyball," she hears Ross yell. Laura glances up from her book in time to see Lauren gripping Ross's waist as her tries to shake her off. An idea must enter his mind because he quickly adds, "Boys versus girls. That means Lauren, you go over there," he finally pushes her away and she pouts.

"We don't have enough people to do that," Lauren complains with her arms crossed over her chest.

"Laura can play," Laura looks from her book once again at the sound of her name.

"That's still only three."

"Fine, then Calum can play on the girls team, since he's pretty much a girl anyway."

"I heard that, Lynch! Don't think I won't get you back for that later," Calum responds back, half joking and half serious.

"Come on, Laura, get your ass over here and quit being a killjoy!"

She ignores the blond boy and continues reading.

He doesn't like that she's doing this, so he throws the ball in her direction and it lands right in front of her. She angrily throws the ball back with all her force and picks her book up again.

This time he throws it, it goes over her head.

Ross snickers challengingly as he sees an angered blush tint her cheeks.

"I hope you know I'm just gonna keep throwing this at you," he smirks.

Laura gets up, brushing the sand off herself. She stalks over to the group with the volleyball in her hands. She throws it at Ross's head, but he catches just it in time to keep it from hitting him.

Laura turns around, ready to walk away from the beach and possibly back to the Lynches house if necessary, but her action is cut short when he throws the ball at her again and it hits her butt.

She turns around instantly, her face beat red. Ross is trying really hard to contain his laughter.

"Oh, look guys, Laura's here to join us in a friendly game of volleyball," Ross says, deeply smirking.

Laura glares at him, joining Calum, Lauren, and Rydel on the left side of the volleyball court. Riker, Ross, Rocky, and Ratliff are the other side. Everyone waits for Ross to serve the ball.

He serves it and it hits the net, falling flatly back to the ground.

"Seriously dude?" Rocky yells over his shoulder at his brother behind him.

"That was just a practice hit, this is the real deal," he insists as Rydel rolls the volleyball back to the boys.

"Yeah, whatever," Rocky mutters, rolling his eyes.

Ross serves the ball a second time and it makes it over the net. Calum hits it expertly back over.

Ratliff hits it, but his position makes it go too far to the left, out of bounds.

"Girls: one, boys: zero!" Rydel declares as she retrieves the ball. "Calum, it's your turn to serve."

Everyone rotates positions and Calum serves the ball. It goes over the net on the first try.

Riker hits it back over to Lauren. Her hit is a little too weak and doesn't quite make it to the net. Instead, Rydel sets it up for Laura to spike it , but she can't because she's knocked to the ground by Lauren who spikes the ball herself.

Rocky tries to hit it back over to them, but the ball hits the net and stays on their side.

"Girls: two, boys: zero. You guys better catch up," Lauren grins smugly and goes back to her spot at the back of the court.

Rydel gives her a dirty look as Calum offers a helping hand to Laura. She takes it, grumbling a "thank you."

The rest of the game pretty much goes the same way. When it's Lauren's turn to serve, she "accidentally" hits it off her wrist and spirals in Laura's direction, hitting her in the back of the head.

Laura stalks off in the middle of the game when she's finally had enough.

She's departed her precious book because she just wants to get the hell out of there.

Laura finds Mark and Stormie and goes up to them, making an excuse that she's got a headache and wants to go home. That's not necessarily a lie, the combination of being hit in the back of the head and knocked to the ground has caused a migraine to be brought on.

"Do you feel sick? Are you gonna puke?" Stormie asks, her motherly nature kicking in.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she reassures, "I just need some rest and I think I'll be better."

She nods. "We'll round up the gang and get out of here."

They head back to the beach and inform the kids they're ready to leave.

Everyone piles into the van and, to Laura's dismay, the only seat available for her is the one by Ross.

On the way back home, Lauren keeps turning around to glare at Laura and Ross, but mostly Laura.

Mark drops Calum and Lauren off before they go back home.

Laura collapses onto the bed upon their return. She's exhausted and her eyes can barely stay open long enough to text her mom.

Rydel walks into the guest bedroom currently being occupied by Laura. "Don't forget to give me back my swimsuit."

"Oh, yeah," Laura replies in realization, "I forgot I had been wearing it."

Laura gets up and trudges over to the dresser. She picks out some comfier clothes to sleep in.

"I'm sorry about Lauren. I didn't realize she was gonna be such a bitch to you."

Laura shrugs. "It's no big deal. I mean I don't know what her problem is exactly, but, whatever."

"She feels threatened by you. I don't know if you noticed this or not, but she kind of has a humongous crush on Ross."

"Yeah, I noticed," Laura answers, then gives her attention to the blond. "Wait, what does that have to do with me threatening her? Why would she feel threatened by me?"

"No reason," Rydel says slowly and before Laura can question her on it, she runs out of the room, leaving a confused Laura behind.

Laura thinks on this for a moment, piecing it all together.

Did Lauren seriously think there was something going on between her and Ross?

Laura rolls her eyes. If anyone was gonna keep Lauren and Ross from having a relationship, it was definitely not gonna be Laura.

**A/N**

**Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. **

**I know it took me like, forever and five days to update, but for a while I just didn't know what to make chapter two about. So for those of you who had been waiting anxiously (if any at all) for me to update, I really am sorry and you may jut have to accept the fact that I am lazy.**

**Also, I realized that in the last chapter I wrote "Aaron" instead of "Rocky". I apologize as I am still adjusting to using their real names instead of referring to them as the Moons.**

**Also, I know the whole "Lauren" and "Laura" thing might be kinda hard/confusing to read and keep straight, but trust me, her name will be very important in later chapters. And just a tidbit of information, Lauren looks like Audrey Whitby who played Tilly Thompson in the "Bloggers and Butterflies" episode. **

**Thanks to mono5709, kristinabenoit1, ausllylover2345, MayLuvzuGomez, Love The R5Family, applekaatt, and the guests who reviewed. **

**So, it has been brought to my attention that someone very special has passed on from this world.**

**Cory Monteith ( I really, really hope I got that right) who played Finn Hudson on the television series "Glee" passed away on Saturday July 13, 2013. I have never seen the show, so I did not know Cory as an actor, but my heart goes out to all the people of that wonderful fandom who went through this tragic loss. **

**This chapter is dedicated to the Gleeks. Just remember guys, don't stop believing! Hold on to that feeling!**

**Follow me on Twitter 'at' NeonShoeStrings**

**Kthanxbai!**


	3. Chapter 3

**~Moving In With R5~**

Chapter Three:

Ross flops onto his bed with an irritated groan as the same tone emits over and over again from his mobile phone.

He knows who it is, therefore he does not bother to read the texts.

And if she texts him one more fucking time he swears he's gonna-

Riiiiing

Riiiing

Riiing

She's calling him.

As if it wasn't bad enough that she was annoying the hell out of him via text message, she had to call too.

The phone finally quits after she calls about three more times, but it blips signaling he has received a voicemail.

He humors himself and listens to it.

Lauren's annoyingly perky and so- enthusiastic-he-wants-to-pull-his-hair-out-everyti me-he-hears-it voice babbles on for three minutes. Basically saying that she loves him, hopes he's safe, and that he should call, text, or Skype her at his earliest convenience.

When hell freezes over, he'll be sure to do that.

Ross simply plugs his phone in and retires downstairs. It's quiet which makes him wonder where his family had wanderer off to. If the house even has a moment of peace then it means the Lynches are definitely not home.

Yet he finds it rather peculiar that they would leave in the middle of the day without telling him.

"Mom?" He calls, but no one answers.

"Dad? Riker? Rocky?" Still nothing.

Ross shrugs and makes his way toward the kitchen. His feet pad along the linoleum floor as he walks to the refrigerator, grabbing a can of pop and taking a big sip out of it.

"Can you get me one too?"

Ross about shits himself when he hears her speak up, not knowing she had been in the same room.

He places the pop on the kitchen counter and tries to calm his suddenly fast-paced heartbeat.

"Jumpy much?" She asks with a smirk. She passes by him so she can retrieve her own beverage out of the fridge since she figures he probably wasn't going to do it.

"I didn't... didn't know you were in here..." Ross breathes heavily and Laura finds that is a bit much.

"Are you always this over dramatic?"

"You scared the fuck out of me!"

"Yeah, cause I was only sitting in plain sight. Geez, and you say I'm blind," she kind of mutters that last part.

Ross grabs his drink once again, takes a large gulp, and follows her back to the table where she sits down and resumes writing in a notebook.

"What's that? Your diary?" He goes for it, but she quickly moves it and swats his hand away.

"Ow," he mumbles pathetically.

"You are such a baby." Laura rolls her eyes.

"I'm a baby? You're the one keeping a diary that you won't let anyone touch."

"I let people touch it," she states matter-of-factly. "People I trust."

"What?" He bends down to her level so she's looking straight into those damn charming hazel eyes of his. "You don't trust me?"

His words are a gentle whisper that carries, sweet and melodiously, to her ears. But there's a twist to it. Almost challengingly.

Or dare she say it?

Huskily?

She swears he leans in closer to her. Maybe it's just her mind playing tricks on her, or him playing tricks on her. Now that she thinks about it, it's probably the latter.

Well two can play that game.

Suddenly her gaze softens. She takes a glance down at his lips before leaning in, and leaning in, and leaning in.

Until there's only a centimeter of space between them.

His eyes flutter close and she smirks at this action.

Laura pulls away, gets up out of her chair, and brushes past him just enough so he knows that she's left.

She turns around in the doorway to see the clearly confused blond scratch the back of his neck awkwardly.

"Sorry, I don't trust pigs."

And then she's gone.

And Ross thinks he might just have a heart failure.

**A/N:**

**Please don't shoot me! **

**I have a reasonable explanation as to why I didn't write for a while.**

**It's because everything I wrote turned out to be SHIT!**

**I wrote at least a dozen other versions of this chapter but I didn't like any of them. **

**I know this is short, it's kind of just a filler chapter for right now. I can't really go any further into this story before I get your guy's opinions on something.**

**I basically just wrote this to give you guys at least something and to reassure you I wasn't quitting this story.**

**You guys have to remember that my sole purpose in life isn't just for me to write stories for you guys (well it was over the summer I guess because I really didn't do anything, but still) my first day of school is next Monday and I really need to focus on my grades because I'm in high school now and grades are really important in high school. Also, I play sports so that's gonna be taking up ALOT of my time. Sorry, but I may only find time to write and update in the weekends for awhile. **

**And to the guest who said it had been five months since I last updated this story, that's not true. This story hasn't even been up that long. At most it's been a month. No trying to be rude, just pointing that out.**

**A special thanks to HawaiiBeachBums who wrote me a very sweet review the other day and thanks to ThatsSoPanda (love your username by the way. It's so panda) AustinAlly-SiberianHuskys, ausllylover2345, AusllySwiftie13Forever, SweetCake773, and R5Ninja, (I'm so use to calling you mono5709 lol) whatwhathm, JustMeSP, BatFink, Jackie Is Grey, kristinabenoit1, VictoriaisLOUDxoxo, and all the guests who reviewed. Y'all are too sweet. :)**

**Also, I need your opinion on something. Who do you want as a temporary love interest for Laura? (Note; her and Ross are gonna end up together by the end of this story don't worry. This is, after all, a Raura story, but in order to ensue some drama, I'm gonna put her with someone else to get Ross jealous.)**

**So love interests for Laura include;**

**•Calum**

**•Ratliff**

**•Ryland**

**•Rocky**

**I'm not really much for Riaura (Riker and Laura) so that's not even gonna be an option. Sorry.**

**OOOOOORRRRRRRRR**

**Should this story include Rydellington? Huh? Huh? What's your guys opinions on that? Tell me in the reviews.**

**Kthanxbai!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Moving In With R5**  
~Chapter Four~

Laura stomps out of the house, frustration running straight through her veins. She grits her teeth, almost crushing the notebook she's holding in a death grip.

She's groans with fury as she plants her butt on the concrete sidewalk. Cars pass by every now and again, but for the most part there's really not much traffic.

Not that that matters. She really couldn't care less about the amount of traffic coming through at the moment. The only thing she cares about is a how she plans on making it through the next two months (give or take a few days) without going completely crazy.

Laura rests her head in the palm of her hands and sighs heavily.

She's not even sure who to blame all her anger on right now.

Her mom? For traveling, and doing what she loves.

Her mom's publishing company? For always making her feel like she doesn't belong and shouldn't go along on these adventures.

Stormie and Mark? For bringing their devil of a son into this world.

Really there's only one person she can point a finger at.

Ross fucking Lynch. For being the person Laura has always known him to be.

Someone clears their throat, and Laura's head snaps up to see the face of Ellington Ratliff, staring down at her with concern-filled, and also slight embarrassment, eyes.

"Can I help you?" She asks, standing up and brushing her hands off on her jeans.

"Uh, no, I was... It was just that.." Ratliff shakes his head at his awful stuttering before pausing, and speaking again. "I was walking down the sidewalk when I was saw you sitting there and I didn't really know what to do. I mean I didn't just want to ask you to move, but I didn't want to just step around you because you looked pretty upset and I, I just..."

She stares up at him as he grins sheepishly and ducks his head low in embarrassment.

"It's okay," she replies, going to turn back to the house.

"Wait," he grabs her wrist with a feather light touch. She stares up at him wide-eyed.

"I'm not very good at talking, but I'm a pretty good listener. If you feel like talking about it," Ellington suggests.

She nods, and motions for him to sit down on the sidewalk with her, as she begins the tale that is her childhood with Ross Lynch.

…

Rydel just stares straight ahead, as the mantra of "I'm not jealous, I'm not jealous.." plays over and over again in her mind.

And she ignores the little voice in the back of her head, nagging her that watching these two for any longer could become a tad bit creepy.

But can she help it if the guy she really likes *cough* loves *cough* is sitting on the sidewalk chatting it up with another girl?

Even if that other girl is Laura Marano. She can't help the painful ache that has a tight hold on her heart. Nor can she help that feeling that's welling up in the pit of her stomach.

It's like a car wreck, too painful to look at, but you just can't pry your eyes away.

Ell throws his head back in laughter in the adorable way that he does and Laura giggles herself. The curls cascading down her shoulders bounce as she does.

Laura's gorgeous.

And sweet.

And kind.

And smart.

And charming.

Laura's fucking flawless!

Rydel feels like a fat, ugly cow compared to the brunette and she can't help but feel like everyone else views her that way too.

She sighs hopelessly.

She's Laura Marano, engaging in flirtatious activity with Ellington Ratliff, while she's Rydel Lynch.

Forever stuck in the friend-zone and only falling deeper in love.

…

The playfulness doesn't go unnoticed by the second-to-youngest Lynch either.

He sees, and believe him it hurts.

But he moves on from it.

"Guys like me don't go for girls like that," he think with a shake of his head. He looks out the window again seeing the matching bright smiles that they are adorning.

"Guys like Ell do. Guys like Ell are perfect for girls like her."

She parades his way up the stairs, into his bedroom and throws himself on the bed.

"Guys like me don't go for girls like her, because girls like her are smart enough to know they deserve something better."

**A/N:**

**There you go. Chapter Four.**

**Enjoy! :D**

**Expect late updates.**

**Blah blah blah.**

**Thanks to We Are Timeless, Astrawberry11, HawaiiBeachBum, Jaz78, MayLuvzuGomez, Screw-calm-n-get-LOUD XD (lol I love your name by the way) Disnick, BatFink, BrandNewEyes929, sonnenplayera, SweetCake773, Jackie Is Grey, dreaming-awake-at-all-times, 0Your Heart0, AustinAllyAuslly, and the guests who reviewed. Love you guys!**

**Twitter: 'at' NeonShoeStrings  
Tumblr: .com**

**Kthanxbai!**


	5. HALLOWEEN SPECIAL

**Moving In With R5**

*** HALLOWEEN SPECIAL***

"Explain toe again why you're having a Halloween party in July?" Laura asks her best friend Maia Mitchell as she rummages through the five dollar decoration bin full of plastic spiders, fake vampire teeth, and big, goofy cob webs.

"_Because,_" she drags out the word, irritatedly. "I won't be here in October, remember? My family's going back to Australia to visit some relatives, but we all really wanted to have our annual Halloween party. So, we just moved it up a couple of months."

"Oh, right." Laura, bored with the cheesy decorations, makes her way to the aisle with Halloween costumes.

"You better get one of those. You'll need it for the party, and also if you decide to go trick-or-treating."

Laura snorts. "What makes you think I'm even going to your party?"

"Because I'm your best friend and it's my party," Maia replies in a "duh" tone of voice. "Plus, it'll be a great opportunity to show off that new boyfriend of yours." She says cheekily.

"Pfffft. What?"

Maia raises an eyebrow at her best friend of three years, with that sly smirk on her face.

"Ratliff is not my boyfriend. He's just my... boy...friend."

"Who are you trying to convince her Laura?"

The American brunette only rolls her eyes at the Australian one. Even when her sister is out of the country she still gets teased about boys. Although Maia is basically just like another older sister. They'd first met in sophomore year of school, back when Laura still wore braces and, what Maia liked to refer to as, "grandma shoes".

So what if she'd found them in the orthopedic section? They were comfy and sensible.

But once Maia came along she swapped those shoes for sneaker wedges, was introduced to the concept of actually wearing make-up, and had been forced into getting the tips of her hair dyed. Laura was pretty sure Maia would have ripped those braces out of her mouth too, but fortunately she let those be.

Laura's mom had called Maia a "miracle-worker", but Laura had a few other choice words for the girl. Either way, that was the begging to a beautiful friendship.

"Just admit it, babe. You can't keep anything from me," Maia wraps her arms around Laura's neck, hugging her from behind and lays her head affectionately on Laura's shoulder.

"Maybe that's just what I let you believe," Laura giggles, "you better get your hands off me or else people are gonna think something off this." She gestures between the two of them.

"Let 'em stare! There just jealous because I have the best wifey in the world!" Maia declares rather loudly and this comment doesn't go unnoticed by the other shoppers.

"Hun, you're so strange," Laura snickers and finally the other girl releases her grip.

"Seriously though. Pick out a costume. I'll even buy it for you if it gets your ass to my party."

Laura just shrugs, trailing her fingers through the rack. She wasn't really paying attention to anything though. She was mostly focused on why Party City had their Halloween stuff out so early.

"Ooh," Maia squeals, "get this slutty nurse outfit. That'll really make your boy-toy drool!"

"Maia!" She shrieks.

"Kidding. I'm kidding," she explains while simultaneously laughing like a maniac. "I know how much of a prude you are anyways."

"Oh my gawd!" She moans while pinching the bridge of her nose and her face heats up like an oven.

"He's not like that anyways," Laura says, "he's sweet and I don't know, like, not like a lot of guys are now a days. Like he actually wants a relationship, not just some worthless booty call."

"Booty call?" Maia laughs again. "Yeah, I'm adding that too the list of words you should never say!"

Once again that day, Laura rolls her eyes.

"But seriously, he sounds really cool. And I can tell you totally like him."

Laura blushes again, this time lowering her head and letting her hair fall over her face, almost like a mask.

"Come on," Maia delicately grabs her wrist, "I have a Halloween costume that would be perfect for you."

…

"What's this amazing Halloween outfit that you have for me, and why are we looking for it in your dusty old attic?"

"Because this is where we keep all of my mom's old junk. This was a costume that she wore in one of her performances. It was the first time she had a starring role in the theatre. She did such a good job that they let her keep one of the outfits."

"Okay? But what does that have to do wi-"

"Oh, here it is!"

Maia grabs a box and sits in on a conveniently placed desk. She opens the lid and pulls out a beautiful scarlet red dress with gold trimming.

"Mai, your this dress wouldn't happen to be from your mom's performance of Romeo and Juliet, would it?"

"Why Miss Capulet," she quips, adorning the worst British accent," it's funny you should ask such a question."

…

Laura's never seen the Mitchell household so packed full of people. In fact, she's surprised there aren't people busting out of every opening of the house.

She walks timidly into the place. It's full of strange people, all wearing costumes and she can't help but feel self-conscious in her Juliet get-up.

Once she passed the group of obnoxious teenage boys wolf-whistling and chugging beers, she feels a lot more relieved, but the amount of people is still making her skin crawl, even if they aren't even paying any attention to her.

All she wants to do is find Maia or Ratliff or someone so she can stop feeling like an awkward little girl who doesn't belong here.

"Hey boo!" Maia says when she finally finds Laura.

She's dressed in a cat women costume, which isn't very surprising since she's a huge fan of super heroes, and is definitely rocking it.

"Hi Maia."

The two girls hug and then Maia steps back to take in the shorter girls appearance.

"Gosh, Laur! You look beautiful!" She gushes.

"Uh, thanks," Laura blushes and fixes her headpiece shyly.

"Laura!" A far away voice shouts.

Laura and Maia both turn around to see Rydel and Ratliff behind them. Ratliff is waving enthusiastically while Rydel glances around the place with a tedious look on her face.

Laura gestures for them to come over, and Ratliff proceeds to drag Rydel along with him.

Rydel has on white face make-up on and is wearing a long black dress with a cape. Laura supposes she's dressed up as a vampire.

Then there's Ratliff who looks adorable in his half-assed zombie getup.

"Hey Laura," he greets cheerily. She smiles friendly.

"Hi Ratliff. Rydel."

Rydel offers a sideways smile. "Hey Laura. I, uh, like your dress."

"Oh, thanks."

"Are you suppose to be Juliet?"

"Um, yeah," Laura answers, swaying her dress back and forth a little.

"Hmm," she inspects Laura up and down, "interesting."

"What? Why do you say that?" Laura asks with genuine confusing.

Ratliff and Rydel share a look before Rydel replies with a quick, "Oh, no reason. I think I'm gonna go get some punch." And then she rushed off in the direction of the punch bowl.

…

Ross walks up to his vampire sister who's currently playing a game on her iPhone, bored with the so-called "party".

He and his brothers had just now arrived to the party and Ross was already on the same page as his sister.

"Yo, sis!" He shouts.

She turns her attention and giggles, shaking her head and returning to her beloved Fruit Ninja.

"What?" He stalks over to the snack table and snatches a pumpkin cookie.

"Nothing," she replies nonchalantly.

He rolls his eyes, "whatever," and continues to munch on his treat.

"Have you seen Laura?" She asks simply.

"No," he pauses and then smirks, "but I bet _Ratliff_ has."

Rydel does nothing, except solidly sock him in the shoulder.

"Shut up, you little poop!" She shrieks.

"Then stop being so obvious why don't you?" He returns and rubs his now sore shoulder.

Rydel crosses her arms over her chest and frowns. "I have no idea what you're talking about.

Ross snorts. "Yeah, sure whatever." He then leaves his sister alone to slump against the wall and pout.

…

"Okay, okay, okay!" Maia stands up on a stool above the crowd of teenagers before her. "It's almost midnight, which means we are about to name the king and queen of the party!"

Laura sits down at a vacant chair and takes out her phone to text her mom. She honestly can't wait to just leave this party, go back to the Lynches house, and go to bed.

"Alright, so it's eleven: fifty-eight. Lets go ahead and crown the winners!" Maia's over excitement was brought out by the squeal at the end of the sentence.

Ross looks with glazed eyes over the crowd, as sea of people he doesn't know. Nothing holding his particular attention right now. He just sits there music blaring out of his earbuds. Honestly, he's about ready to pass out from exhaustion.

He's mindlessly lip-syncing the words to his favorite Maroon 5 song when he hears his name be called.

Called by an odd voice, with an unfamiliar dialect.

Was it Australian?

"Ross Lynch and Laura Marano! Get your asses up here! We don't have all night ya know!"

Neither teen makes the attempt to move, so instead of waiting on them, they are ushered to the front of the room by total strangers.

"And look at that! You two even match! How sweet is that?" Maia squeals!

That's when Laura notices, because this actually the first time that night she had even seen him, what he's wearing.

'God, why do you hate me?' She asks.

Because here she is, in a Juliet dress while he's standing in front of her dressed as Romeo, and she has to admit if it hadn't been her and him, it probably would have been the the cutest shit she'd ever witnessed, but it wasn't.

Because Ross and her were currently dressed up as one of the most popular couples in history and what Maia said next only amplified her intense irritation.

"Alright guys, you won. Now dance."

"Excuse me?"

Maia smirks, definitely enjoying herself right now. "You heard me. You two," and she gestures between the two of them. "Dance. Now."

She takes one look at Ross and one look at Maia before her glares go back to Ross again and she gets a flashback of the other day in the kitchen.

"Oh, hell no!"

"I'm not dancing with her," Ross pipes in. "That'd be disgusting!"

The large group that had gathered around them was now fully engrossed in the interactions between the two. They could literally feel the tension radiating off of Ross and Laura.

One bold spectator decides to make their opinions known and chants the word, "dance!" over and over again until others have joined them.

Soon the whole room is shouting the same one worded-mantra. "Dance! Dance! Dance!"

Ross, irritated and ready for the night to be over with, grabs Laura's small wrist and walks her to the center of the floor. A slow song pours out through the speakers as he does, and everyone erupts into cheers.

"I hope you know I'm only doing this to shut everyone up so I can leave," he takes her hand and places his hand respectively on her side with a light touch, careful not to go too high or too low.

"Really? And to think I actually thought you wanted to dance with me. You really had me fooled, Ross."

He laughs. "You're such a sass master, you know that Marano?"

"Same to you, Lynch," she replies easily, with a teasing smile, "same to you.

"Gosh, I hope you know you're just embarrassing yourself right? You're an awful dancer," Ross comments after she steps on his foot for a fourth time.

Laura awkwardly holds onto him, just following his lead and clearly not having any idea what she's doing.

"I'm sorry I'm not as skilled a dancer as you are. There's a reason you always called me 'Two Left Feet Laura', remember?"

"Oh yeah, because at our sophomore dance you completely embarrassed yourself in front of that guy you liked with your horrible dance moves. What was his name? Brandon? Brenton?"

"It was Brendan, and thanks for bringing up yet another embarrassing story of my past."

"You're so welcome," he says in a playfully sarcastic matter.

Laura manages to step on his foot a fifth time. She mumbles a quiet "sorry," and tries again but ends up marking a sixth time.

"Didn't your dad ever do that thing where he'd let you stand on his feet and he'd teach you how to slow dance?"

"No," she says and shrugs. As if that was something that was suppose to have happened. "My dad was always working anyway." That statement comes out more bitter than meant to.

Ross's face softens at hearing that and he puts an end to their dance. "Here. Get on my feet."

"What?"

"Do you want to learn to dance or what? Get on my feet and I'll teach you."

"Ross, I'll probably break your feet."

He rolls his eyes. "Are you serious? Laura you way like 80 pounds. You're not gonna hurt me. Besides this way you'll add some height. I won't feel like I'm dancing with a Keebler elf."

She swats at his arm for that comment, but ultimately accepts his offer and hops on his feet.

They resume their dance only to be faced with even more complications than before.

"Oh my gosh! This is even worse than when I was standing on my own feet!" She says.

"Whatever! You're learning though, right?"

"Couldn't you have just taught me the other way? Why are we doing this again?"

"Because it's funner!"

"Funner's not a word, Ross!"

"Shut up! It is now!"

Both teens are in fits of laughter by the time the song is over with.

Laura gets off of the tall blond and calms her giggling.

"That was pretty bad," she admits.

Ross just shrugs his shoulders. He'd honestly forgotten they'd been dancing in front of people.

"But thanks for the lesson. I appreciated it."

"Whatever. You're welcome."

Laura grabs his arm when he's about to turn away from her.

"I was being serious. Not sassy," she informs him.

He just gives a small smile. "Yeah, I know. I was too."

Laura smiles as well and lets go of him. He walks away from her and she can only process one thought out of the millions she's having right now.

She actually had fun with Ross tonight. And that, was a pretty scary thought.

**A/N:**

**Woo hoo! I'm back!**

**You're in luck, the holidays brought me a whole crapton of inspiration so the hiatus is over and updated should be more often. Not only for this story, but also my other one. (Celebrity Status. Which if you haven't read yet, you really should.)**

**I was originally gonna publish this chapter on Halloween, but I decided not to make you guys wait that long and just publish it tonight. I hope you enjoyed this bit of Raura Halloween cuteness! I have to admit thought that I got the idea to make Ross and Laura dress up as Romeo and Juliet from another fanfic of an author I do not remember the name of. Anyways, her Raura story was cute and I kinda stole her idea (sorry) so yeah.**

**Big thanks to We Are Timeless, sonnenplayera, RauraR5Forever, Jackie is Grey, 1DR5, romzworld, Lilyfanficlover, writermeAL, Screw-calm-n-get-LOUD XD, UselessScottishtigergirl556, leo-jasper-ilove-vampires, AustinAllyAuslly, ljitrackrunner12, BatFink, and all the guests who reviewed. I love you guys! You make me smile! Keep it up, please!**

**Oh my gosh you guys! 72 reviews on this story already! I'm like freaking out! I can't believe I've already got that many reviews, it's unreal! I just wanna give every single one of you all a great big bear hug. I'm so honored that you guys enjoy my story, because I love writing it for you all :) so once again, thank you! **

**Kthanxbai!**


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